IF you had to be an Olympic victim, there would be worse identities to assume than Paul Hamm's. Nancy Kerrigan comes immediately to mind. That poor Brazilian marathoner, whose gold-medal bid was derailed Sunday by some goon in the crowd. For...

The Olympics have ended, but the saga of Paul Hamm's gold medal has not. Yang Tae Young of South Korea, the bronze medalist in the men's all-around, filed an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Sunday, seeking to have the...

To the Sports Editor: I am surprised that George Vecsey (''Wrong Shoulders Forced to Bear the Weight,'' Aug. 24) cannot discern the difference between an error of judgment and a violation of rules. Referees, judges and umpires are allowed to make...

You can always count on international sporting officials to take the cowardly way out of a controversy. The International Gymnastics Federation is now implying, without quite asking explicitly, that the American gymnast Paul Hamm should give up his...

The letter from the International Gymnastics Federation arrived hand-delivered Thursday night, more than a week after Paul Hamm won the men's all-around gymnastics event and felt the weight of the gold medal hanging around his neck. In the letter,...

Paul Hamm was no longer in Athens last night but instead was on the set of ''Late Show With David Letterman'' carrying his three Olympic medals. Hamm, the gold medalist in the gymnastics all-around, was not asked to perform stupid vaulting...

The controversy surrounding his gymnastics all-around gold medal had turned his Olympics into a nightmare, so before leaving Athens on Wednesday, a day early to escape the commotion, Paul Hamm wanted to clear his name. Hamm sat down Monday before...

The president of the International Gymnastics Federation said Monday that the results of the Olympic gymnastics all-around final would not change, leaving Paul Hamm of the United States with the sole gold medal. The validity of Hamm's gold-medal...

We were among those thrilled at the astonishing come-from-behind heroics of the American gymnast Paul Hamm in the men's gymnastics all-around competition at the Olympic Games last week. Mr. Hamm, who had been favored to win a gold medal, looked as if...